Rupert Murdoch’s slick channel has been piping Scottish football into British living rooms since 1995. Paying tens of millions for live games while innovating glossy, state-of-the-art graphics and production values.

Employing dogged reporters capable of looking a purple sex toy in the eye while delivering deadline day updates from Parkhead or Ibrox without blinking.

BT Sport are ready to smash the record to secure exclusive SPFL rights

Sky Sports have done wonders for the Scottish game, no question. But right now they are victims of what politicians describe as the mid-term blues.

Like Theresa May’s Westminster government, Sky try to make it look like they care about Scotland.

But football supporters on this side of the border feel like an afterthought. Like Sky aren’t really trying.

Many have now reached the conclusion Sky doesn’t give a toss about Scottish football. Compared to English coverage, it’s perceived as a slightly embarrassing irrelevance.

That much was clear when Sportsmail broke the news BT Sport want to go it alone with Scottish football. Social media likes and shares told their own tale.

Let’s be clear. Right now neither Sky or BT are exactly throwing themselves under a bus to secure rights to the SPFL.

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Scottish football has an image problem. Down south, people think it has no value and that’s reflected in the sums paid to show live games.

Between them, Sky and BT Sport shell out £21million a year for the right to show live SPFL Premiership games and the Betfred League Cup.

In contrast with the obscene £5billion deal handed down to English football, that’s just insulting.

Consider this. Roughly a tenth of Sky’s subscriptions come from north of the border. Yet Scottish clubs receive nothing like 10 per cent of the cash paid for coverage of the English Premier League.

No one disputes the fact the English top flight is a superior product. Sky should pay substantially more for what’s on offer. But that doesn’t mean the SPFL should settle for the loose change down the back of the sofa.

Sportsmail columnist Chris Sutton is a prominent member of BT Sport's Scottish coverage

To say Scottish football has been a victim of Stockholm Syndrome would be stretching it. But it has become the downtrodden partner in an abusive relationship.

Broadcasters used the absence of Rangers from the Premiership to leave the nation’s clubs wallowing in feelings of worthlessness.

The return of the Old Firm fixture changes things. The Glasgow derby is far from the only bargaining chip Scottish football has to offer.

Hearts-Hibs games could be back next season and that’s a powerful draw.

But if BT Sport want to wrestle all this from Sky’s clutches, they’ll have to dig deep.

In 2009, Scots clubs were robbed of the biggest television deal in their history — £31m a year — when Setanta’s UK operation went bust.

Negotiations have already begun over the next deal. For the first time in eight years Scottish clubs harbour realistic expectations of a half-decent contract.

BT have embarked upon a charm offensive; wining and dining SPFL powerbrokers in a series of formal and informal meetings.

Club representatives have also received a presentation at Twickenham, the home of English rugby.

The aim was to demonstrate how BT taking on the Aviva Premiership on an exclusive basis drove up attendances and viewing figures by double digits.

BT are pretty much pushing at an open door. SPFL chairmen have been waiting a long time to feel wanted again.

Many have long harboured suspicions Sky Sports are going through the motions. Taking Scottish football for granted in their coverage and how much they want to pay for it.

Sky Sports offer conscientious, intelligent broadcasters who care a great deal about the Scottish game. They can also deliver bigger viewing figures. Whatever fans think, club chairmen know what they bring to the table.

But BT’s arrival has breathed life into a neglected, slightly tired product. Chris Sutton and Stephen Craigan will never be invited on to the Rangers after-dinner circuit. But Friday-night football — with a dedicated 45-minute preview package — has generated discussion and debate. And the chairmen like what they see.

No one is kidding themselves. People can talk about enthusiasm, promotion and punditry all they like. But if Sky execs pitch up on Hampden’s sixth floor waving a cheque for £40m a year, BT’s seduction of SPFL chairmen could end up being a waste of time and money.

And if they don’t? Supporters will take that as proof that, where Sky and Scottish football were concerned, they were right all along.

United are now tourists in their own past

Dundee United used to inflict more bloody noses on the European elite than Nigel Farage during last orders.

Today marks the 30th anniversary of an iconic UEFA Cup quarter-final victory over Barcelona in the Nou Camp.

To place the achievement in context, Liverpool remain the only English club ever to have beaten Barca on Catalan soil.

Manchester United, Arsenal, Newcastle and Leeds all tried. And failed.

More recently, a Celtic team romping towards a sixth successive league title went to Barcelona and shipped seven goals.

Yet United didn’t just win in the Nou Camp once. They did it twice.

Three decades after their most famous triumph of 1987, Jim McLean’s United team can now be seen in the same light as the Lisbon Lions, Rangers ’72 and Alex Ferguson’s Aberdeen side. They lost the UEFA final to Gothenburg in heartbreaking circumstances. But what happened 30 years ago tonight remains one of the greatest results ever by a Scottish football team.

Dundee United beat Barcelona at the Nou Camp 30 years ago today

Even if watching it back is as melancholic as viewing a video of an old uncle before the walking stick and the emphysema set in.

Like the line from T2 Trainspotting, Dundee United are now tourists in their own past.

Fourth in the Championship behind Hibs, Falkirk and Morton, the Taysiders have lost five of their last nine league games.

They should cling on to a play-off place despite Tuesday’s 3-2 defeat to bottom club St Mirren. But only a fool would tip them to win promotion back to the top tier.

Financially, relegation to the SPFL Championship has been a disaster.

A £3.94million profit in 2015 has been wiped out by last year’s £1.5m loss. A programme of savage cost-cutting helps, but every night chairman Stephen Thompson drops to his knees and prays this is the window Andrew Robertson finally leaves Hull City for £10million.